If you’ve been using Sage 50 for a while, it may be time to evaluate whether it’s fully suited to the needs of your business.

Sage 50 is one of the most popular accounting solutions for small businesses, and thousands of companies use it for their day to day needs. Sometimes, however, a business can grow and change, and their accounting software will need to as well. It’s vital that you have the right system in place, as one that isn’t suited to your business could impact on your productivity and as a result, your profits. How then, do you know that that time has come for you to move on from Sage 50 – and what other options are there?

Transactions

One of the first signs that you may need to move on from Sage 50 is speed, or rather, a distinct lack of it. Business owners who have since changed systems say that when they were processing large amounts of transactions, Sage 50 struggled to keep up. Not being able to carry out transactions quickly and efficiently will have a real negative impact on your business over time. Later versions of Sage, such as Sage 200, are built on a much faster database You will also be able to deal in multiple currencies if you decide to upgrade too. So you’ll be able to rely on your accounting system day after day, safe in the knowledge that it’s going to be able to cope with whatever your business throws at it.

Analysis

If you want to closely analyse performance over different areas of your business, Sage 50 may not cut it any more. Sage 200 comes with something called a three-tier nominal structure, which allows you to run in-depth analysis. This three-tier chart of accounts delivers reports based on nominal account numbers, cost centres and departments. If you want to take your business reporting to the next level (and as your business grows, it will thank you for that), it’s probably time to move on from Sage 50. Short and long term cash flow forecasting is an option too, so you can get a grip on the current and future fortunes of your business much more effectively. Reporting and analysis is also much quicker in Sage 200 and 300 as you no longer have to export your data to Excel to manipulate it.

Sticking to Sage

Changing your ERP software can be a big undertaking, but if you stick with Sage and simply upgrade to one of their other software systems, you can greatly reduce any disruption. If you purchase your Sage software from a trusted supplier, then you’ll be able to take advantage of the experience they have in helping their customers to switch systems. Sage 50 is very different from Sage 200 or Sage 300, but combined with the right support you’ll find that your existing knowledge will help you to adjust quickly.

It could be time to make the change

Rather than a business needing a new ERP software system just because their current one cannot accommodate more users or deal with a larger amount of transactions, it’s often a case of looking at the bigger picture. That’s why it’s important to see how an ERP system can work for different parts of a business and not just one specific area. Only you can decide whether it’s time to move on from Sage 50, but hopefully all of the above information will help you to make the best possible decision for your business.